The Silent Guard (mxm)

Chapter 28

Something smells really good. 

"Hello there." 

Ah, the physician is here. 

"Would you like a bite to eat? I'm not allowed to give you much, but my lord said that a little would be fine." 

He's actually allowing him to feed me? 

It didn't make any sense. Especially since the man wanted to torture him until he could figure out a way to kill him off for good. 

"I'm not too sure why he's decided to allow you food. My lord does not normally reconsider his words," the man said as Yuen felt something warm press against his lips. 

"Best to eat it while it's hot. It's not the best after it's cooled some," the man said, making Huang slowly force his lips apart. Or, at least, that's what he thought he'd done. 

"Not quite there yet, it seems. Don't fret, I'll help you," the physician said as the offering was removed and, after a few short moments, returned to his lips in tiny shreds. 

The simple gesture was appreciated. He was pretty sure that he'd choke if he was given any kind of decent sized piece. Since he was still blindfolded, he waited patiently for each morsel to be offered, never once leaning forward to try and find it quicker. He was extremely hungry, as his growling stomach voiced excessively, but he would not lose his control over such a thing. He hadn't expected to get fed anything at all, so he would be patient and appreciative of whatever amount he got. 

After a few bites the man began examining him. Checking his recently-sealed wound, first. Huang had used all of the energy he'd been given previously by the man to just-barely seal off the large hole in his chest. It still hurt terribly and would be very easy to reopen if he moved much, or if anyone messed with it, but it was at least healed up enough to prevent insects or infection from taking hold there. 

"You are quite a wonder, young man," the physician said as Huang felt him feeling around the damaged area, but not touching the worst parts. 

"I'll leave that be. You—" the man's words were interrupted by the sound of the tent flap opening. 

Huang could hear the man get to his feet as familiarly-loud footsteps began to approach, but he didn't bother moving himself in response. Mainly because he couldn't, but simply turning his head, which he felt was likely all he could do at that moment, would have accomplished nothing of use, so there was no reason to bother. He could not see the man with the blindfold on, and he doubted that Lee Shaan cared about the acknowledgement, anyways. 

"My lord, he is conscious and has eaten a small amount," the physician said as the footsteps drew to a halt close by. 

Normally, he'd have alarms bells going off in the back of his mind with an enemy being so close, but there was no energy left to even stress about the situation, so he simply focused on keeping his breathing steady and listening to the two converse. 

"And his injuries?" came Lee Shaan's deep voice, its baritone echoing off of the stone walls the tent was built against. 

Yuen heard the physician hurry closer to him, then felt hands quickly but gently move against his skin. 

"The main wound has healed over, but it's just-barely sealed. It's actually more of a barrier than actual flesh currently covering it, but it should work well enough to allow for an eventual recovery," the man said, then went about showing Lee Shaan a few of the other bad injuries Huang hadn't quite gotten around to healing yet. 

Of course, his body was doing what it could for all of his injuries, but after taking so much damage, there was no way that his system could simply begin healing everything at once.